This blog describes my journey as a Foreign Service officer, wife of another FSO and a mom to a boisterous, loving boy.We began our careers with the State Department in 2010/2011 and first served in amazing Bangladesh, followed by fabulous Rio de Janeiro. We are currently serving in Washington, DC. Our lives are a pleasant circus and we cannot believe just how lucky we are to live our dreams.

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Toga, Lessons and Astonishing Dental Hygiene

Life is going on in sunny Rio de Janeiro. We have just
endured a long and dark winter with average daily temperatures of 72 degrees
and sun only five days of the week. Oh, yeah, and the ocean is pretty cold,
too! OK, fine, in all honesty, this year the winter was a bit capricious, raining
copiously for days on end, taking turns with 90 degree weather and back to
freezing rain. The other night, we had the loudest and scariest thunderstorm I
have ever seen in my life.

To save ourselves from the suffering, the Diplomat has been
drowning his sorrow in various sports. Now, most of you already know that he is
an avid tennis player. To that effect, he still takes a tennis lesson with a
teacher once a week, because, well, one can never be good enough. Some of you would
also kindly remember that the Diplomat has picked up the noble pastime of golf,
for which he also takes lessons because perfection there still eludes him. And
recently, he has also applied himself to swimming since, he says, “it is a life
skill.” Believe it or not, when I met him, the Diplomat could not swim at all. With
the help of his devoted swimming coach, I am proud to say that the man is now swimming.
Not to be left behind, Son is also taking swimming lessons with the same
teacher (arguably, with less remarkable results for now), a soccer class (coach
just quit, apparently working with kids proved to be too much for him) and,
lest he be any less well-rounded, an art class with a super artsy teacher, Rafael,
who comes to our house once a week for a two-hour, free flowing creative
session. To the horror of my housekeeper, Rafael wears crumpled artsy clothes
and has long, messy hair, which, according to her, smells something awful (they
apparently had to ride together in the elevator one day). Son, however, seems
to think that the sun shines out of that horrendous hair so Rafael is staying. So,
in this very learned family, I am in a distant third place with paltry weekly tennis
lessons. Clearly, my tennis game leaves a lot to be desired.

Another way we have recently entertained ourselves is by
hosting the annual birthday parties for Son and me – we both have birthdays in
September. Last year, I decided to prove myself and hosted a riotous kids party
in the apartment, which resulted in astonishing amount of high-pitched
screaming and cupcake frosting in various tough to believe spots afterwards.
This year, we tried to distract Son from the thought of having yet another
party in the house by promising to take him to the Amazon, a trip we have been
planning for years now. I spent a whole day convincing him of the value of
travel over gifts and cupcakes and actually succeeded. Except that in the end,
the Diplomat and I decided to go to Uruguay instead. Not missing a beat, the
child immediately posed the problem of having a birthday party again. Faced
with total destruction, I came up with what I thought was a lesser evil – a sleepover
with his best 3 buddies. It was met with glorious delight. One of his friends
could not make it, so it was down his two besties. And boy, party they did – I can
safely say that the three kids more than made for the lack of a bigger party. Somewhat
embarrassingly, Son fell asleep eventually at 9.30, while his friends kept the
action going till 11 pm. Everyone was awake and agog bright and early at 6 am.
What gives, children??? And there still were cupcakes everywhere. At least I
was pronounced a cool mom by Son.

My birthday was celebrated somewhat differently, if not less
childishly. I decided that I needed a twist to the usual, and announced a toga
theme. I am happy to say that half of the guests valiantly did show up in toga
after all. There is no sight like a bunch of international diplomats, all
draped in white sheets, drinking the night away in the balmy warmth of a Rio de
Janeiro night.

On a completely unrelated subject, I wanted to tell you
about an aspect of Brazilian life that has always amazed me, namely – dental hygiene.
Along with samba and string bikinis, Brazilians are also obsessed with their teeth
and their cleanliness. They brush teeth seemingly after every single thing they
eat. Son was asked to bring to school toothpaste and a brush to use them after
snacks and lunch. I was impressed. But the day I saw two homeless people
sitting on the ground, carefully flossing while asking for change, I was simply
left speechless. While food might be an issue, old rotting teeth would never
be!

7 comments:

Hello Diplomatic Mom,I am currently applying for my masters in public administration and foreign affairs and preparing for the foreign services. I found your blog (thanks for the helpful tips and hints by the way). I actually lived in Rio de Janeiro from May of 2012 until May fo 2014 as a missionary for my church. I know two FSOs from church that were in Rio and left last year. Perhaps you know them. I just thought that the connection was very interesting and I thought I would comment. Thanks again for all of your great tips and I hope you are absolutely loving Brazil as much as I did!

Hi Diplomatic Mom, I'm one of those lurkers who binges on your blog posts but never comments (sorry.) I also live in Brazil (Uberlandia, Minas Gerais - two years through Fulbright and now doing a Master's degree) and have been preparing to take the FSO exam in February. I revisited your page for the tips on writing personal narratives, since the CA LNA just opened and it sounds like a great opportunity to me. Do you work with any CA LNAs now and have anything to say regarding the position? Keep up the fabulous writing. Um abraço :)

We get dental care on the local market. For one, there are no RMOs at each post. And yes, if there is one, he ain't a dentist. So, you are on your own! The good news is that, depending on the country, it might be way cheaper than in the U.S.

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About Me

I am a corporate lawyer turned mommy, diplomat and, at times, stay at home wife. I used to live in NYC with the Diplomat and Son (born in September 2008), and then in 2010 we moved to Washington, DC so that my husband and I can begin our tandem career with the State Department. I love martinis, single-malt scotch, high-heeled shoes, little black dresses, good cigars, exotic travel and the general good life. Being a mommy, while awesome, is tough but I fight the good fight to preserve my “cool NYer” every day, one martini at a time. Am I a good mom? Abso-freaking-lutely!